Latin America is an extraordinarily diverse area, encompassing a wide variety of cultures, political units, economies, languages and environments. The goals of the Latin American studies minor are to foster greater knowledge about Latin America and to explore the cultural contributions of that area to the global community. The minor aims to expand students' views concerning the multicultural nature of the peoples of Latin America and to emphasize the interactions between indigenous and introduced cultures in this region, both past and present.

The Latin American studies minor will be useful to students envisioning careers in government, business, commerce, communication, or teaching. Students interested in pursuing graduate work in any field related to Latin America will also find such a minor to be important.

Students will achieve the goals of the minor by taking a set of courses on Latin America in at least two different departments, or, for more breadth, by choosing courses in several departments. The specific courses are selected according to the interests of the student from the list approved by the Latin American studies faculty and updated each semester. Prior to enrolling for the next semester, a student must get her/his minor courses approved on the form kept by her/his advisor. The minor in LAS will require 18 credit hours of work, including language proficiency through the intermediate (202) level or via a placement test. The 202 language course may count toward the minor, but 101, 102, and 201 may not. Only three credits are allowed from a student's major department. No more than nine credits from any single department and no more than three credits of independent study may count toward the minor.

Fall 2017 Approved Latin American Couress

La Buena Vida - The Good Life Film Viewing

La Buena Vida - The Good life (2015), by director Jens Schanze

Film will be shown on TUE APRIL 4, 2:35-4:15pm, Textor 101; public welcome

The village of Tamaquito lies in the forests of Colombia. Here, nature provides the people with everything they need. But the Wayúu community’s way of life is being destroyed by the vast and rapidly growing El Cerrejón coal mine. Determined to save his community from forced displacement, young and charismatic leader Jairo Fuentes sets out to negotiate with the mine’s operators. They’re backed by powerful global resources companies such as Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton, and communicating with their representatives isn’t easy. The villagers are promised the blessings of progress, but the Wayúu place no value on modern, electrified houses – on the so-called better life. Instead, they embark on a fight to save their life in the forest, which soon becomes a fight to survive.

La Buena Vida – The Good Life is the story of the Wayúu community, told against a global backdrop of rising energy consumption being driven by the pursuit of growth and affluence.